Unbury Your Dead
by Kunzle Showboat
Summary: An alternative way for the Season 5 episode 'Bury Your Dead' to go.


One of Agent Gibbs' favourite places was his cabin in the woods outside DC: he favoured isolation and simplicity. It was surprising, therefore, that he found himself approving of the main road of the pretty country town he was walking along. Although 'town' was probably a huge exaggeration – perhaps he would go for 'settlement'. The street was well kept and tidy and was made up of two rows of houses and shops built in a honey coloured stone. Gibbs nodded in approval at the sense of order. It was a place of welcome and safety. Homey.

As he walked along he spotted a sign advertising coffee for sale and he quickened his pace expectantly. He soon found that it wasn't just a coffee shop but also seemed to be a post office and general store with a few tables placed in the bay window.

Gibbs walked up to the counter and felt himself relax still further.

"Coffee. Strong and black. And large," he ordered.

The barista nodded. "Take a seat. I'll bring it over."

Gibbs went and sat down in the window. He didn't have to wait long.

"Strong and black. And the biggest mug we have in the shop," said the barista who then, uninvited, sat down opposite Gibbs with his own drink.

Gibbs took a sip of his drink and sighed contentedly. "Good coffee … Tony."

Tony DiNozzo smiled at his customer and held his hand out. "Good to see you, Boss."

Gibbs took the proffered hand and held it for a moment. "Not your Boss, Tony. Not anymore. Not for a long time."

"Old habits die hard," said Tony ruefully.

"That mean you remember the rules? What about Rule 3?" demanded Gibbs.

"Don't believe what you're told?" asked Tony innocently. He saw Gibbs' glare. "Wow, Boss. That look is still in full working order. And you have to admit that you doubled up on the rules sometimes. Like with Rule 3. Which is also 'never be unreachable'. And I'm guessing that's the one you mean?"

"You think?" said Gibbs.

"I'd apologise, Gibbs. But you definitely have a rule about that," said Tony.

"Nine years, Tony. That's a long time," said Gibbs.

"Yeah. I know. And I would break the rule about apologies but …"

"But what?"

"But I'm not really sorry."

"We thought you were dead," said Gibbs.

"Not all this time," protested Tony.

"Couldn't be sure," Gibbs took a sip of his coffee as he thought back to that day when the huge screen in MTAC had been filled with the image of Tony's car blowing up. It had only been a few hours until Ducky had determined that the body from the burnt out vehicle was not Tony's but Gibbs still remembered the anguish of going to the scene of the explosion and seeing the charred corpse stiff behind the wheel of Tony's beloved car; of forcing his team to do their work and of trying to comfort Abby in her shock and grief.

"We were tracking your car in MTAC. We saw it explode. We thought you were in it," said Gibbs.

"That wasn't my fault. I didn't ask for my car to have a bomb put in it," said Tony.

"I know. But you didn't show up. Even when Ducky and Palmer worked out that you weren't in the car we still didn't know what happened to you," said Gibbs.

"Jeanne was terrified," said Tony.

"You could have come in. We'd have made sure you were safe," said Gibbs.

"Couldn't persuade her. And I couldn't persuade myself."

"What does that mean?" demanded Gibbs.

"Jenny."

"What about her?"

"I didn't trust her. You know she had me go undercover. To get close to Jeanne?"

Gibbs nodded. "She told us. When you didn't come into work the day of the explosion."

"I was pretty spooked myself that day. René showing up unexpectedly -we should have known he was in DC. And I guess I was jittery after the night we'd just had. You know about me shooting the drug runner?"

Gibbs nodded.

"So, I wasn't at my best. Had to cope with Jeanne's _Papa_ turning up. And then he took me aside and let me know that he knew I wasn't Professor Anthony DiNardo. He'd known all along. That wasn't in our game plan, you know. Then, the car blew up. We felt it, we were right next to it when it happened."

"What did you do?"

"René went into a panic. Trying to find out who'd done it. We both realised that Jeanne might be the target. I told Jeanne who I really was. That didn't go down well but when René let slip what _his_ side line was … well, let's just say that I was the lesser of two evils."

"What happened then?" asked Gibbs.

"Like I said, René was trying to make plans. Give him his due he was really anxious about Jeanne and he let me take her with me. Knew I'd keep her safe while he tried to negotiate a way out. I think Trent Kort was deliberately out of reach at the time. Waiting to see which way the wind was blowing."

"You should have come to me," said Gibbs.

"I might have come to _you._ You, I could trust but I wasn't sure that Jenny wouldn't have some other plan in mind. Gibbs, you must have seen how obsessed she was with La Grenouille?"

Gibbs nodded once more. He remembered that, while she had been relieved to know that Tony hadn't been killed, Jenny had also been alert to the opportunities that had opened up with Benoit being in trouble.

"I'd have looked out for you," he said stubbornly.

"Maybe. But I couldn't risk it. And I wouldn't have been able to persuade Jeanne. She was in shock. Her whole world had been turned upside-down. And I didn't know if someone was really after her. I had to protect her."

"It wasn't your fault her father turned out to be an international arms dealer," Gibbs pointed out.

"No. But it was my fault that she'd fallen in love with an imposter," said Tony sadly.

"And you wanted to fix it?" said Gibbs. Tony shrugged. "Because that's what you always tried to do. You always wanted to fix things," continued Gibbs.

"One of my rules. Clear up your messes. Because nobody else is going to do it for you," said Tony.

"Met your father," said Gibbs. Having met DiNozzo Senior he found it easier to understand Tony's feeling that there wouldn't necessarily be anyone in his corner.

"Huh," said Tony, obviously seeing that Gibbs' remark wasn't really a non sequitur.

"Where did you go?" asked Gibbs.

"To my apartment first. Had to get some stuff," said Tony.

"We checked there." said Gibbs. In other circumstances it would have been funny to see McGee and Ziva react to the grand piano and the books in the elegant apartment. "It looked as if it had been expertly searched."

Tony looked gratified. "That was the look I was aiming for. I had some things I needed from the apartment but I thought it would muddle things a little if you thought someone else was searching for me. Meant that it didn't matter too much if I slipped up and it was obvious that things were missing."

"It worked. What did you take? We couldn't see if anything was missing."

"Cash. Bank books. Passport."

"Your bank books were in your bureau. So was your passport."

"Ah. My other passport. I have dual citizenship. My mom was British and I had a British passport. In the name of Anthony Paddington."

"Why?"

"You telling me you don't have an escape plan in place, Gibbs?" asked Tony.

"I guess. Although mine doesn't involve false passports."

"Not a false passport. Legal and genuine although not widely known about. And bank accounts in the Paddington name in the UK and Switzerland. Apart from anything else, it made it more difficult for my father to try and access my money."

"And what about Jeanne? She have another passport too?"

"Yes. Turned out that Daddy dearest tried to look out for his kids. She's got a French passport. Dual citizenship again. Hers was in the name of Jeanne Berkley. That's her mom's name."

Gibbs took another gulp of his drink. He wondered if his team had dropped the ball in not knowing about the other passports but had to decide that it didn't matter now. It might, however, be something to check in future disappearance cases.

"Jeanne's apartment was cleared out," said Gibbs.

Tony nodded. "She was packing up anyway because her place was going condo. I figured it made sense that my place should look untouched while hers was emptied. Make it look as if we weren't going off together."

"It worked," confirmed Gibbs.

"And it would have been tough trying to get Jeanne to give up on all her possessions. She'd already lost most of what was important to her. Couldn't take her memories as well," said Tony realistically.

" _You_ gave up everything," Gibbs pointed out.

"My choice," said Tony simply.

"So, what did you do?" asked Gibbs.

Tony chuckled. "Left the country. Travelled for a while, making sure nobody was after us. Then we went to Islay. It's an island …"

"Off Scotland. The Hebrides."

"Inner Hebrides," corrected Tony.

"Famous for its whisky," said Gibbs.

"That's right. We needed somewhere quiet and out of the way. I remembered Senior telling me that my Mom's uncle dragged him to this remote Scottish island as part of _getting to know him_ before he got married. Said it was the most boring and isolated place he'd ever been … although he said the whisky made up for some of the horror. I figured it would be a good place to go. And nobody would ever have expected Tony DiNozzo to be staying on a croft on Islay. Er, that's a type of farm, Gibbs," said Tony.

"You farmed?" said Gibbs sceptically.

"No. The owner rented it out to tourists. She had another croft which she lived in and she farmed both parcels of land. But there were chickens to feed," said Tony as if he was trying to promote an image of himself as a farmer.

"We searched for you. For both of you, for weeks," said Gibbs.

"I am sorry. I know I said I wouldn't apologise but I do regret putting you to that trouble," said Tony.

Gibbs banged his fist on the table. "Trouble? Is that what you think? We were frantic, DiNozzo! We thought you might be dead. We _cared_! What part of that don't you understand?"

Tony didn't reply but just shook his head sadly.

"And then La Grenouille turned up dead. And we were definitely involved with a murder enquiry."

"Did you find out who did it? Who killed him?" asked Tony.

Gibbs gazed at Tony for a moment or two.

"You thought _I_ did it?" asked Tony incredulously.

"I didn't but some people did," said Gibbs.

"I could never kill Jeanne's father," said Tony.

"We don't know what we're capable of. What would you have said if someone had suggested that you'd run off and leave your DVDs and wardrobe of designer suits behind?" said Gibbs.

"Good point. But I didn't kill René."

"No," agreed Gibbs.

"Then who did?"

"CIA took responsibility," said Gibbs.

"And you believe that?"

"Better than the alternative," Gibbs replied.

"Which is?"

"Jenny Shepard."

"Ah," said Tony.

"We stopped looking for you soon after the Benoit case was closed. Jenny concluded that you'd both gone to ground and there was nothing to investigate. She said we couldn't waste federal resources looking for someone who'd left their job without giving notice. You hadn't done anything illegal so she said we had to stop."

"And you agreed?" asked Tony.

"I didn't want to. But …"

"But what?"

"But my gut said you were all right. Years ago I told McGee that I'd know if you and Ziva had been killed down at the docks … and my gut was saying the same thing when you went missing. Somehow, I thought kicking up a fuss might not be the best thing. And if anyone was after Jeanne - well, you were probably the right person to be on her six," said Gibbs.

"The famous Gibbs' gut," said Tony.

"Was it wrong?" asked Gibbs with a hint of anxiety.

"No, it wasn't. And you were right, we needed to be alone, away from other people and we found our refuge."

"But you're not together now?" asked Gibbs.

"What?"

"Always did think you relied on the SatNav too much, DiNozzo. This is Oxfordshire, not the Hebrides Inner or Outer. I think you've gone astray."

"Ha ha. We stayed on Islay for nearly a year. It was a good time. We both healed and Jeanne got to know Anthony DiNozzo rather than Anthony DiNardo."

"Paddington. Anthony Paddington," corrected Gibbs.

"Yeah, you're right. Anthony Paddington is somewhere between DiNardo and DiNozzo. And, fortunately, Jeanne fell in love with him."

"So, you left Islay? Together?"

"Jeanne wanted to take up medicine again. She went to Edinburgh Medical School and did some recertification. She qualified to practise in the UK."

"And what did _you_ do?" asked Gibbs.

"This and that. I always had money – from my Mom and from the DiNozzo grandparents. I worked in some coffee bars, played piano … we got by."

"And now? This place is a long way from Edinburgh," said Gibbs.

"Upper Middle Padding," said Tony.

"I know what it's called, DiNozzo. What are you doing here?"

"Jeanne works as a GP … general practitioner. The equivalent of family medical doctor in America."

"And what do you do?"

"I'm the Practice Manager. I run the doctor's surgery, look after the budget, hire and fire, liaise with the local hospitals and trusts."

"And work in the coffee shop?" asked Gibbs.

"It's a community shop. Run by volunteers for the good of the village. Without them the shop would have closed and people would have to go to the next village," said Tony.

"Greater Padding," said Gibbs.

"Absolutely. Although locals call it Padding," said Tony seriously.

"And you're one of the volunteers?"

"Yep. It's that sort of place."

"And why here?"

"Ah. You remember I said about my Mom's uncle who dragged Senior to Scotland for a bonding session? Well, Great Uncle Clive lived in Oxfordshire. We reconnected once we settled here. Neither of us had any close family so the Paddingtons were the obvious choice. Clive suggested we come to live in the county."

"Nice place," commented Gibbs.

Tony looked a little embarrassed, "The Paddingtons used to own most of the land and houses around here."

"So that's why …"

"Yep, the Paddingtons gave their name to the villages. Or the villages gave their name to the family. Who knows? So there's Padding Parva, Greater Padding, Padding the Less, Upper Middle Padding, Lower Padding and Nether Padding. And some other places which have disappeared off the map."

"You live in the village?"

"Got an old school house just up the road. We were lucky. We were looking for a place just when they closed the primary school and it was perfect."

"You don't have a school here?"

"They built a new one in Padding. It's only two miles down the road." said Tony.

Gibbs gazed at Tony over the rim of his cup and considered his next question. Tony anticipated it,

"Our kids go to the school in Padding," he confirmed.

"Kids?"

"Jeanne and I got married in Edinburgh. The kids started arriving when we moved here."

"How many?" asked Gibbs.

"Four."

"Four?"

"We didn't mean to have four! Two sets of twins. I could have done with checking with McGeek. What are the odds of two sets of twins to couples with no history of twins in their families? Anyway, Lucy and Anna are six. Tom and Charlie are three and a half."

"Congratulations, DiNozzo. Or should I say, Paddington?" said Gibbs raising his mug in salute.

"Or you could just say Tony," suggested Tony.

Gibbs nodded.

"I was sorry to hear about Jenny," continued Tony.

Gibbs looked at Tony in surprise. "Didn't think that would make the headlines over here," he commented.

"And Ziva's Dad," said Tony.

"That caused a few problems," said Gibbs with masterly understatement.

"You said you'd met my Dad," said Tony.

Gibbs grimaced. "He wanted to have you declared dead. Wanted to …"

"Get his hands on my money," Tony finished the sentence.

"He said he wanted to tidy things up. He had a point. Your apartment was still running up bills and the money in your account wasn't going to last for ever," said Gibbs.

"What happened?" asked Tony.

"He couldn't afford a lawyer to take it on. And it seems the bank keeps finding enough money to keep paying the bills," said Gibbs.

"Imagine that," said Tony with a straight face.

"How did you know about Jenny? And Ziva's Dad?" asked Gibbs.

"And I hear McProbie has got a McSqueeze," offered Tony.

"Tony?"

"Why are you here, Gibbs?" asked Tony.

"Vance sent me to Barford St John - US Air Force Base but they have some Naval officers seconded here who got into some trouble. Sent me to sort it out," said Gibbs.

"And what are you doing in Upper Middle Padding? It's a few miles from Barford."

"Ducky," said Gibbs as things began to fall into place.

"Ducky?"

"Ducky asked if I'd come here and pick up some tea for him. Said it was the only place to buy it."

Tony laughed. He got up and went to one of the shelves and picked up a packet of tea. He placed it on the table in front of Gibbs. "PG Tips loose leaf tea. And Ducky was right that it's the only place to buy it in Upper Middle Padding but that's because this is the only shop in the village. But you can get it anywhere … including DC."

"Ducky knew?" asked Gibbs.

"Not right from the beginning. It was a couple of months before we ended up on Islay. I remembered him talking about trips to the Hebrides and he seemed the obvious person to ask. And I wanted someone to know that we were both OK," said Tony.

"And he arranged Edinburgh for you?" asked Gibbs.

"He helped," agreed Tony.

"And he knew about your children?"

"Yes. And he told me some of what was going on at NCIS. I didn't think it would be fair to tell _you_ what was going on. And I figured …"

"That I wouldn't leave well alone?"

"Something like that. Ducky absorbs things, you know. He keeps secrets. And for all he talks a lot, he knows how not to say things. He's been a good friend to both of us. Don't be angry with him."

"He knew you'd be in the shop today?"

"Every Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. It'll pick up soon when the school run begins."

"And he arranged this when he knew I'd be at Barford?"

"It seemed the right time," said Tony.

"In what way?"

"It's been years. Nobody's after us now, we're safe. It might be that we were always safe but I won't regret what we did. And I wanted to reconnect with old friends."

"And you need to settle your affairs in DC?" suggested Gibbs.

"I guess. The apartment is expensive but we can afford it. But the main reason is that I wanted to meet up with you all again. I've felt that part of me has been missing all these years, it's time to do something about that. Besides, I want to gate-crash McRomeo's wedding!"

"Is there anything you don't know?" asked Gibbs.

"You know Ducky. He's a mine of information," smiled Tony.

"So it seems," said Gibbs.

"But there is one thing I don't know," said Tony.

"What's that?"

"You didn't seem surprised to see me when you came in. Why's that? Did you know I was going to be here?"

Gibbs considered his reply. "No, I didn't know you were going to be here. But, like I said, my gut always said that you were still alive and that you were OK. And, somehow, I always knew that we'd meet up again someday. So, when I walked in and saw you in that barista apron … it was a shock but, in another way, it wasn't. It just felt right – like the ending you hope for in a story."

"It's not an ending. I hope it's the beginning of a new chapter," said Tony.

"Well, it's the end of my coffee. Any chance of a refill before you get busy?" said Gibbs.

"On it, Boss," said Tony.

As Tony moved away, an elderly man came in,

"Hey, Marple! Got my magazine? I want to see if my letter has been published," he asked.

"I'll go see, Sid," replied Tony.

A few minutes later Sid was going away happily looking through his copy of 'Beekeeping in the Cotswolds' and Gibbs was beginning his second cup of coffee.

"You got another name, Tony?"

Tony flushed. "Oh no. It's Sid's little joke. He thinks I'm like one of Agatha Christie's detectives. Jane Marple - Miss Marple."

"He thinks you're like a woman? Just how much have you changed, Tony?"

"Not that much. It's just so happened that I've got a bit of a reputation for …"

"For?" prompted Gibbs.

"For solving village mysteries," said Tony sheepishly.

Gibbs grinned, "Always knew what the D in Anthony D DiNozzo stood for – Detective!"

* * *

 _The characters aren't mine._


End file.
